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NEWS STORIES
A link to important Milestones reached by the Association has been added to the top of the News Page

Scottish Social Housing Charter Consultation (23/8/11)

The Scottish Social Housing Charter Consultation This consultation seeks your views on a draft Scottish Social Housing Charter, which the Scottish Government will invite the Scottish Parliament to consider and approve early in the new year. The Charter is introduced by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010, which requires Ministers to set standards and outcomes that social landlords should be achieving for tenants and other customers through their housing activities. Please click here to view the draft Charter.

Autism Rights Group Highland (8/8/11)

Autism Alert Card Autism Rights Group Highland (ARGH) now have available to purchase an Autism Alert Card, made by autistic people, for autistic people. Due to demand, the card is available to all wherever you live, whatever your age. The card is made from high quality plastic and is credit card style. ARGH is a group of autistic adults, self funded and self governed, who have produced this card to be sold at low cost, to be of use to other autistic people: they do not make a profit on sales. To order a card please send £1 plus a stamped envelope with your address to: ARGH 22 Wester Inshes Place, Inverness, IV2 5HZ A Braille sticker is available if required. Click here to go to the ARGH website.

Scottish Housing Regulator (8/8/11)

Scotland has a new, independent housing regulator. From next April, its role will be to safeguard and promote the interests of tenants and others who receive housing services from local authorities and housing associations. It will replace the existing regulator. Before taking on its role, the new Scottish Housing Regulator is consulting on its approach. It wants to hear the views of tenants, landlords and others with an interest in social housing. Kay Blair is the new Regulator’s Chair. Kay said: “The quality of housing and landlord services have a direct and lasting impact on people’s lives. We will regulate to protect tenants’ interests and to drive improvements in social housing. We will assess each landlord’s performance regularly. In doing so, we will take account of the views and experiences of its tenants. We will publish a range of information on landlords’ performance, including progress against the Scottish Government's new Social Housing Charter. This will help tenants to hold their landlord to account. And we will take action where we find a landlord is failing to deliver for tenants. The new Regulator would like to get wide feedback on its proposed approach. The consultation runs from early September. You can respond until late November. There will also be events across the country, open to tenants and others, to discuss the proposals. You can get a copy of the proposals and find out more about the events by visiting the new Regulator’s website, following the consultation on Twitter or contacting its office. You can find the details below. website: www.scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk/newregulator phone: 0141 271 3810 e-mail: consultation@scottishhousingregulator.gsi.gov.uk twitter: www.twitter.com/SHRconsultation

Skye patients to benefit from telehealth project

Skye residents with long term conditions such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder, diabetes and heart failure, are being offered the opportunity to have monitors in their homes so their conditions can be managed remotely. The introduction of the monitors forms part of an NHS Highland telehealth project, which is being run in partnership with the Association and The Highland Council. The project was explained to members of Skye and Lochalsh Health Services Reference Group at their meeting in Broadford in March. The group had earlier identified telehealth as one of the major improvements they wished to see made to healthcare locally. Ruairidh MacKinnon, Handyperson Co-ordinator of LSHA, told the group that telehealth uses technology to help patients manage their own conditions and is well suited for use in rural areas where transport is scarce and access to specialists is often at a distance. He stressed that telehealth was not a replacement for people, but was about using staff and skills more effectively. Mr MacKinnon explained that the monitors would be based in patients’ own homes, with the clinician setting acceptable parameters for their readings, such as blood sugar levels. Once these are exceeded, an alert is generated to the clinician. The patient is taught how to use the equipment as well. Mr MacKinnon pointed out that telecare has been used effectively in Skye and Lochalsh for three years and telehealth commenced last year, with the launch of a teleneurology service that meant more neurology patients could be seen locally with less having to travel to Inverness for appointments. He added that more telehealth developments were scheduled for the coming year, with the home monitoring service due to go live at the end of this month.

Green Dog Walkers

Dog fouling has long been an issue in all parts of the Highland Council area, and responsible dog owners are now banding together to stop it with the launch of the Green Dog Walkers scheme. Green Dog Walkers is a friendly way of changing people’s attitudes towards dog fouling in public places and encourages responsible dog ownership. Volunteers from community groups will wear a Green Dog Walkers (GDW) wristband which signifies that they have 'Taken the Pledge' to always clean up after their dog; to carry extra dog bags and be happy to 'lend' a doggie bag to those without. Click here to see more details on The Highland Council's website.

LSHA Management Committee Members

The Association has vacancies on our Management Committee and are seeking applications from individuals from a range of geographic locations and with a variety of skills. Applications from our tenants would be particularly welcomed. Please telephone us on 01478 612035 and we will send you an application pack. Click here to view more details.

Hi-Scot Credit Union

The new HI-Scot Credit union is now up and running and its services can be accessed on line, at The Highland Council’s Service Points , and at Sleat Community Trust’s filling station at Armadale. Please click here to go to the website.

Counselling Directory Website

The purpose of the site is ultimately to provide the UK with a huge counselling support network, enabling those in distress to find a counsellor close to them and appropriate for their needs. This is a free, confidential service that will hopefully encourage those in distress to seek help. The website also contains a number of sections on emotional disorders (types of distress section) and provides some useful statistics. Every counsellor on the site who has submitted their profile has either sent a copy of their qualifications and insurance cover to us, or is registered with a professional body online with recognised codes of ethics and practice, this way we can be assured of their professionalism. Please click here to go to the Counselling Directory. This link is also on our Useful Links page.

Cancer Warning Signs

In the Highland region, 1,600 people per year are diagnosed with cancer. More than 1 in 3 people in the UK will develop cancer during their lifetime. Cancer can develop at any age, but most cases occur in people over 60. The earlier cancer is found, the earlier cancer is treated, the better the chance of a cure. Knowing what to look out for gives you a better chance of finding the disease early. Click here for a copy of an NHS leaflet which includes some useful websites for your information.

Keeping Debt at Bay

Paying for electricity in your new home can often be confusing and expensive. Please click here for a leaflet which contains information to help you understand your fuel bills and explains ways you can pay. It also provides details about the support, including grants and financial aid, that may be available to help make your home easier to heat. Remember, saving energy in your home helps the environment as well as cutting your bills.

Hate Free Highland

The Hate Free Highland website has been developed and is supported by the Highland Community Planning Partnership. This site is to report only non-urgent hate incidents which have occurred in the Highland area. Police will receive this form during normal office hours. Click here to go to the Hate Free Highland website. This website is also available through our Useful Links page.

Highland Carers Bulletin

Highland Community Care Forum (HCCF), now 20 years old, has, over the years built up a portfolio of services for carers including young carers, people with mental health problems, people with learning and physical disabilities and older people. HCCF adopts a community development approach and works in remote, rural and urban localities across the Highland area. HCCF helps users and carers to speak up so that their views and experiences shape local services and support. Their services include advocacy (individual and collective), information, consultation and training. They carry out small scale social research and use intelligence gained from our work on the ground to contribute to policy development locally and nationally. If you would like more information, please click here to go The Highland Community Care Forum website.

Draft Documents for Consultation

The website has a page showing Current Consultation documents. Please click here to view the draft documents.

The Scottish Government's "Go Greener" Campaign

Reducing food waste is currently a key focus for the Scottish Government’s Go Greener campaign, which aims to encourage people to make small changes to their everyday behaviour to help contribute to a greener Scotland. Click here for more information and some tips. Visit the Go Greener website and you can benefit from fantastic offers and giveaways from a range of partners who are giving their support to the campaign. To sign up to the 10 steps and to see some of Mr Earth's Green Tips and Offers, click here to visit the Go Greener website.

InfoScotland and Fire Safety information

The Scottish Government have developed a very useful website called InfoScotland on a variety of topics including health, road safety, teaching, law in Scotland, how to become an organ donor, grants for businesses and many more. Click here to go to the website. One of the links is called "Don't Give Fire a Home" and has details on how to recognise hazards, smoke alarms, etc . Click here to go to the website.

Skye & Lochalsh Young Carers Project

The Skye & Lochalsh Young Carers Project website has been launched. Please visit their website. www.skyeyoungcarers.co.uk.

The Calman Trust Information Exchange Project

The Calman Trust in Inverness have an Information Exchange project which aims to involve young people in sharing advice and information about leaving home, transition etc. The idea behind this is to address some of the ‘leaving home’ issues that might ultimately lead to homelessness (the focus of the project is not on homelessness, but is more about the things that every young person will need to consider as they leave home). A website which aims to provide information and advice on all sorts of youth issues has recently been launched. You can access it at www.leavinghomeinthehighlands.org. The website offers some very useful information. In addition, there is a forum on the site http://www.leavinghomeinthehighlands.org/forum/category-view.asp, where young people can discuss a variety of subjects online.

Any Suggestions?

If anyone has any ideas, suggestions or comments, please send them to our mailbox at info@lsha.co.uk or phone them in to us on 01478 612035. You might like to suggest articles for the Association's next newsletter, or share useful information with other tenants.

 

 

 

 

 

The Association is registered with The Scottish Housing Regulator as a Registered Social Landlord (No. 324) and with the Financial Services Authority (No. 2132RS).
The Association is a Scottish Charity No.SC038019